Senator at centre of recent controversies

FIDELMA HEALY Eames (50) was a primary school teacher before focusing her attention on politics.

She has been at the centre of a number of controversies in recent months, but it was her very public criticism of the Government’s education policy that most dismayed her colleagues.

Ms Healy Eames was a member of Galway County Council from 2004 until 2007, when she was elected to the Seanad. She has unsuccessfully contested three general elections in the Galway West constituency. She was born in Moylough, Co Galway, has a son and a daughter and is married to Michael Eames, who contested the 2009 local election unsuccessfully.

Ms Healy Eames describes herself in her LinkedIn profile as a director of an Oranmore-based business called FHE Education and Training Providers. The interests she cites include basketball, Galway hurling, football, and travel.

Independent Senator John Crown praised her contributions on education in the Seanad.

Ms Healy Eames has complained she has been on the receiving end of sensational media coverage. She was fined €100 for boarding a train at Athenry station without a ticket in July. In her explanation, she said the train was at the station when she arrived and she had intended to buy a ticket on board but was not aware she had to buy one if a ticket office or vending machine was available at the station.

Her car was impounded last month because it did not have a valid road tax disc. The Mercedes was towed away during rush hour in Galway city, which was hosting the Volvo Ocean Race at the time. “I was mortified. On this matter I was totally wrong. Mea culpa,” she said at the time.

Also in July, a Galway court heard a case taken by a plumber against her and her husband over failure to pay for work done at their Oranmore home. The case against Ms Healy Eames was dismissed but her husband was ordered to pay more than €12,000 to the plumber, Michael Allen.